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Can we either have an option to use Instagram instead of one of GitHub/Twitter or in addition to them in our profiles? For those of us not in programming GitHub is a waste but I'd sure love to have my Instagram.

Other possibilities (from the creative realms) that people wouldn't mind being able to link over GitHub would be YouTube, Codepen, Behance, Coroflot, Dribble, etc.

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    Perhaps this gives reason for site specific linked social profiles?
    – Zach Saucier
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 22:53
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    I'd love to link my CodePen profile!
    – PieBie
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 15:43
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    @PieBie added to the request!
    – Ryan
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 16:45

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Taking into account the fact that our attitude to certain social media is changing (judging by this rather... lukewarm reception of the idea to add a Twitter link), this seems worth consideration.

I'd be in favour of having each community select a default social site instead of the default being GitHub--which is useless on, for example, English Language & Usage, Seasoned Advice or Science Fiction & Fantasy.

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    In light of other comments, I think it might be difficult to find consensus even within a same community but minimally, having more than one website link would be useful and the possibility of leaving GitHub out for non-programmers would be considerate of other domains. I can think of Academia,edu also for academics who want to showcase their work.
    – curious
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 17:40
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Those links were originally put in, I imagine, because they were professional-type links. GitHub is a site that will let you showcase your work; Twitter, while it is a social network, is often also used by companies and independents to update people on company progress.

Instagram, to me at least, doesn't seem to fit with that ethos (which, by the way, I think is good - we're a professional community, not a social network, etc). The image that Instagram projects seems to be a very stereotypical social-network type of thing, sort of like Facebook (which I suppose is unsurprising, really). Given that it's a mismatch to the current ethos, that there's no option for a Facebook link either, and that you can link it in the free form text you get in your profile, I don't think this is necessary.

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    Instagram now has Business Profiles and even before that for those of us from the Graphic Design and Photography Stack Exchanges it is very much a business platform for us.
    – Ryan
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 22:44
  • @Ryan I suspected there might be something like that, that's fair. However, given that Facebook has Pages that are often used for businesses to showcase and even conduct business, and there's still no link to that, my opinion is unchanged. It's definitely worth linking in the free form text, but I don't think it warrants another dedicated field.
    – ArtOfCode
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 22:46
  • Twitter was being used by business' since inception in 2006. StackExchange came out in 2010, Instagram also in 2010. Facebook business pages started just a few months sooner in 2009. I think this has more to do with it than anything you've said. Basically, SE set this up before Instagram and Facebook Business pages existed; and before SE had the vast network of other areas such as design. I'm asking if at this point it could be updated.
    – Ryan
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 22:58
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    And especially with Startups now in the mix too and other art areas approaching (Arts and Crafts, Drawing, Painting, and Cosplay all in proposal/beta) it might be a good time to look at where the rest of us are because GitHub isn't it.
    – Ryan
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 23:06
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    "GitHub is a site that will let you showcase your work" — no doubt, and the driving force behind this request is to allow members of non-programming oriented sites to showcase their work. Your logic giving pass to Twitter but deny the same logic to Instagram makes no sense to me, they're practically the same platform with one being text oriented and the other images. I would reconsider the notion that this request is "not necessary". To you, perhaps, this would be great for the communities in the "Life / Arts" category.
    – JohnB
    Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 13:17
  • Although I don't agree, a case could be made for Instagram being non-professional (although all the business profiles on there would like to disagree), but dribbble and Behance are most definitely professional networks that I'd love to have available on my profile as a designer. As a non-coding member, GitHub is useless as a default link.
    – Vincent
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 12:58

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